


Until My Pity Party's In Flames

by philsbasket



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Homophobia, M/M, Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-24 18:45:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4931065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/philsbasket/pseuds/philsbasket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High school AU in which Dan and Phil are both at a party and end up hiding out in the same bathroom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Until My Pity Party's In Flames

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I started writing this months ago and never got round to finishing it until now. It's just a one-shot based very loosely on one part of the Paper Towns film that I thought would make a cute fanfic if it was expanded on and changed a bit so yeah I hope you like it!

Phil picked his way through the hallway packed with bodies, holding his drink up high so nobody would elbow it and tip it all over his shirt. He’d managed to lose Chris somewhere around the kitchen and was now just floating around the party aimlessly, somewhere halfway between tipsy and nicely drunk. 

He had never been one for big parties. Not that he was unpopular, though he wasn’t particularly popular either. He mostly hung around with a group of other kids in the sixth form, they’d sit together and chat at lunch and in study periods, but he only really spoke to Chris outside of school. Chris was the one who’d convinced him to come tonight. Ben Harvey had a party at the end of every school year, Phil had been to a few before, it was okay, better when they were younger and they had just played party games and danced to cheesy pop songs, drinking bright blue syrupy alcopops. As they had gotten older it all started to get more and more intense and now Ben’s parties were known for getting out of hand. Phil much prefered to just stay at home and chill, but he had come because Chris wanted to, and now Chris had gone off somewhere and left him. Typical.

Phil emerged into the living room and found a space on one of the sofas, it was a big house, kinda fancy, he was surprised that Ben’s parents would let him have a party like this every year, he must have a hell of a lot to clean up afterwards. The party was in full swing and there were kids everywhere, dancing to the booming dance music that was swelling throughout the house, making out in corners, playing various party games. He checked his phone, 11pm, he had told his parents that he was sleeping over at Chris’ and was supposed to be crashing there with him after the party. He didn’t want to be too clingy on Chris but then again, he didn’t really know anyone well enough to just go up to them and join them, even with the small buzz of the alcohol in his system. Phil shot him a quick text to make sure everything was still cool and he hadn’t been completely abandoned. He had to take care with his typing now, he felt a little lightheaded and his thumbs weren't going exactly where he told them to go.

From: Phil  
To: Chris  
Hey dude, ring me when you’re ready to go yeah? don’t wanna get stuck here on my own :)

Phil had hesitated on typing the smiley, not wanting to seem too passive aggressive, but he figured Chris was probably too drunk by now to even notice it. He waited for a reply for a few minutes, tapping his phone against his leg to the beat of the music and taking slow sips of his drink. His phone buzzed and he checked the message.

From: Chris  
To: Phil  
yeppo m8te! ! not yet thooo?? hthe party hass just begun!!!!!! :p :P ;p

So Chris was already plastered. If he didn’t slow down Phil was going to have to pretty much carry him home again, last time he was at a party with Chris he’d thrown up on Phil’s shoes.

“Literally get the fuck out of my house. Why are you even here Darren? Everybody knows you slept with Georgia whilst she was still dating Jason, I can’t believe you’d even show up after that never mind throwing up in the fucking fruit bowl that’s so fucking disgusting nobody even wants you here.”

Ben was full on screaming at this point, Phil looked up from his phone to discover that Ben and George were positioned pretty much on either side of the sofa. Phil decided on trying to sink as far into the sofa as possible and remain undetected rather than risk the embarrassment of having to stand up and excuse himself in the middle of their argument.

“Oh that’s fucking rich coming from you Ben, we used to be best friends me and you and now what? You’re kicking me out of your party? Fucking brilliant.”

George was slurring badly and droplets of sick were speckled down the front of his t shirt, a pint of beer in his hand sloshing about as he stumbled from foot to foot, trying to keep his balance. Somebody had stopped the music in the living room and people were starting to form a circle them, Phil still sitting on the sofa in the middle of it all wishing he could disappear completely.

‘Yeah we WERE best friends, emphasis on the past tense George, get over it, grow up for god sake. I know stuff about you that would literally ruin you but I’ve never told anybody because I was a good friend, that’s more than you ever were to me”

“Oh right yeah Ben because you know everything about me? How about you eat shit you mother fucker, sorry for ruining your party, it was shit anyway.”

George threw his entire full cup of beer in the general direction of Ben as he walked out.

And it landed face down on Phil’s lap.

Phil jumped up and looked down at himself, he was pretty much covered in beer from his chest to his knees. The crowd gasped and an “ooooh” rose through the room. Phil was mortified, he wanted the ground to swallow him up completely, he pushed himself through the crowd. He could hear them whispering about him.  
“Who was that kid?”   
“Phil Lester I think, hangs around with that Chris kid”

He wasn’t really angry or sad about it, he was mostly embarrassed, he wanted to get somewhere where people wouldn’t see him. He headed to a bathroom on the ground floor to hide for a while until the hype had died down, and to maybe try and scrub the beer off his shirt and jeans before the stain set in.

The queue to the downstairs bathroom was 5 people long, he turned around and elbowed his way up the stairs to the upstairs bathroom but there was somebody passed out on the floor, vomit in the toilet. Lovely. Phil looked around for somewhere to go, somewhere at least semi private. He looked at the door that led to Ben’s parents bedroom, they weren't supposed to go in there and Phil didn’t really want to break the rules, but he knew Ben’s parents were out and desperate times called for desperate measures. He tried the handle and to his amazement the door wasn’t locked. He looked behind to make sure nobody was watching him and pushed inside, shutting the door behind him quickly, he scanned the room grabbing and chair and setting it against the doorknob so that nobody could follow him in even if they wanted to. There was a door at the side of the room which he assumed led to an en suite bathroom. Phil made his way through to the door, being careful not to let his shirt or jeans drip onto Ben’s parent’s cream carpet. He could feintly hear the sound of the music downstairs being turned on again, there was always some drama at one of Ben’s parties, he figured he would be completely forgotten about by the time the school year started again in September.

Once inside the bathroom phil locked the door behind him leant against it, breathing a sigh of relief to be alone again. He lifted his soaking wet shirt over his head and peeled off his sticky jeans, dumping both into the sink. He smelled like old beer and he wrinkled his nose at himself. Thankfully his phone had still been in his hand the whole time and had therefore remained unscathed from the title wave of beer. He checked the time, half 11. He was glad it was still so early, he could hide out here until his clothes were dry, he could play some of the apps on his phone and look through a few of the magazines that Ben’s parents had left next to the toilet. Honestly he’d rather be in here than out there. Phil closed the toilet lid and sat down, starting up Candy Crush Saga on his phone. 

That’s when he heard the sob.

Phil’s head jolted up, he thought he’d imagined it, that it was a fault in the plumbing or that the sound had travelled from the party below, but then he heard a few shaky breaths and another heart wrenching sob coming from behind the shower curtain.

He was a little taken aback to be honest, he hadn’t expected to have already been in his secret bathroom so he didn’t really check. He was also wearing nothing but his pants so he was a little embarrassed as he drew back the shower curtain.

A boy from the year below that Phil recognised to be Dan Howell was huddled in the corner of the bathtub, hugging his knees to his chest, his face pressed into them. He didn’t look up when Phil opened the shower curtain but Phil could obviously hear that he had been crying, pretty forcefully by the sound of it. 

“Hey, Dan is it?”

Dan squeezed his eyes together tightly and didn’t look at Phil. He didn’t move at all, he was shaking and obviously trying hard to contain his tears and sobs.

Phil didn’t know all that much about Dan, he knew he was one of the popular kids from the year below him, he’d always thought him to be cute when he saw him at school, all big brown eyes and dimples. Right now though, he looked a wreck.

Phil sighed, he really didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t leave him, not even if he wanted to- he was only wearing his underwear, but Dan obviously wanted to be left alone. 

“Okay well, I’m Phil, I’m kinda hiding out in here too so I guess I’ll be your cell-mate for the evening.” He gave Dan a shy smile, even though the boy still just staring at his knees. “So I mean, obviously you’re upset, if you wanna talk I’ll be out here, okay? Right so… okay” 

Phil wasn’t really sure what to do in the situation so he just slowly pulled the shower curtain back on Dan, to give him some privacy, he figured. 

Dan let out a few shaky laughs and dragged the shower curtain open again, looking up at Phil for the first time, one side of his face was completely swollen and his lip was busted and bleeding.

“Did you actually just shut me back in? You asshole” He smiled and shook his head slightly at Phil as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

Phil was taken aback at the sight of Dan’s face, he must’ve been in some kind of fight, but then why would he be that upset about it? He didn’t want to pry too much, he thought it best to tread lightly, he didn’t want to get on Dan’s bad side, especially if he was prone to getting into fist fights.

“I-I thought maybe you wanted a bit of privacy, y’know? Like, our own separate bits of bathroom. Seeing as I can’t really go anywhere” Phil stuttered out, giving a quick gesture to his clothes, which were still sitting in the sink sopping wet and stinking of beer.

“I mean.” Began Dan. “If we’re gonna be stuck in here together all night we may as well get to know each other?” His voice was still shaky and he had to take a break every few words to sniff, but he seemed to have calmed down at least a little. “Could you pass me some tissue, please?”

Phil looked behind him to where Dan was pointing and spotted a box of kleenex on the shelf. At least the bathroom was well stocked. He handed the whole box to Dan, who took out about 5 at once and blew his nose noisily.

“Do you wanna get in the bath with me?” Dan asked.   
“Uhh, yeah I guess? Why not.” 

The experience with the beer had sobered Phil up a lot, but his head was still slightly cloudy. Dan seemed a little drunker than Phil, but sober enough that he was able to form his thoughts relatively normally, or so it seemed to Phil anyway.

They were both tall boys, each of them easily over 6 foot, so it was a bit of a struggle for Phil to fit his legs into the bath comfortably, Dan giggled as Phil almost kneed himself in the face.

“So graceful.” Dan laughed “It’s like watching a giraffe trying to get into the tub.”

Phil snorted. “Oh shut up, you must be almost as tall as me if not taller.”He finally settled down into the bathtub, Dan at one end, Phil at the other, legs spread out in front of them. “So Daniel, how long do you reckon you’re going to be stuck in here for?” Phil asked.

Dan’s smile faltered and he bit his lip, breaking Phil’s gaze. “Erm, well. I think I fucked up my chance of a ride home. So. I don’t know. I was just gonna sit in here until I figured something out, but then you came along so…”

“Can’t you just walk home?”

“I live miles out of town, it’s all country roads from here to there, I’d probably end up dead in a bush knowing me.”

“Can’t your parents come pick you up? Seeing as it’s an emergency… Kind of…”

“I told them I was sleeping at Josh’s. If they knew I was drunk at a party they’d kill me.” Dan pushed his hair out of his face and closed his eyes for a few seconds. 

“Is Josh the guy you had the fight with?” Phil gestured towards Dan’s busted lip.

“It wasn’t really a fight.” Dan looked away from Phil. He looked like he was going to cry again.

“I hope he looks worse that you do.” Phil laughed, trying to break the tension.

Dan sniffed and wiped his nose with another wad of tissues. “Yeah, no. He doesn’t”

He smiled sadly up at Phil. “I feel a bit like Moaning Myrtle. From Harry Potter, y’know? You come into my bathroom, I’m crying, I whine to you about someone who hit me in the face.” He laughed a little bit and his eyes crinkled. “Anyway, I’m sure your story is much more interesting than mine. Why are you half naked, Phil?” 

“It’s really not much of a story.” Phil began. “I got caught in the middle of an argument, George tried to throw his drink over Ben, he missed, it hit me. I was literally saturated in beer. And then I came here to hide out, I guess. I don’t really like parties all that much in the first place.”

“Ho-ly shit! George showed up? After what he did to Jason?” Dan seemed to be much more interested in the drama than Phil was. “What happened, I need the gossip.”

“Eugh I don’t know, apparently he got really drunk and threw up in a fruit bowl, Ben tried to kick him out and he got pretty upset to say the least.”

“Yeah I bet he did.” Dan snorted. “Well, hopefully that means people aren’t gonna talk about my drama quite as much.” He shook his head slightly before repeating. “Ho-ly shit.”

Phil didn’t really bother much with keeping up with all the stupid fights and arguments that the more popular kids got themselves into. He didn’t really care who was sleeping with who or who was talking about someone behind someone else's back. But Dan intrigued him. Phil didn’t know him that well but from speaking to him for a while he could tell he wasn’t the sort to get into drunken fist fights are parties, he seemed gentle, his words soft-spoken.

Phil bit his lip and frowned before asking. “Your drama?” He was worried that Dan would still not want to talk about what had happened, he didn’t want him to freeze up again like he had when Phil had first come into the room.

But Dan looked Phil deep in the eyes, he looked like he was mulling something over in his head, considering whether or not he trusted Phil.

“I guess you’ll find out eventually anyway.” Dan gave a tiny sad smile. “Do you wanna come up this end of the bath, so I can talk to you properly?”

“Yeah, yeah course.” Phil shifted round so he was facing the same way as Dan, and scooted up the bath so they were level, their backs leaning against a floral bath pillow, their sides pressed up against each other. And it might have been the alcohol that was still in his system but Phil could feel the heat radiating from Dan’s body and he appreciated the closeness. Despite his red rimmed eyes and snotty nose Phil thought that Dan was still really beautiful. Fragile, but beautiful.

“Right so.” Dan looked at Phil for a second and then stared straight ahead, “Basically.” He sighed. “I think I might be bisexual?” He winced slightly and turned his head away from Phil. 

Phil giggled slightly. “Dan, Dan it’s okay. Do you really think I’m someone that’s gonna beat you up for being bi? You’re safe here, honestly. I’m bi too.”

Dan’s eyes went wide. “Oh you’re?. Oh. Okay, cool.” He grinned really wide and continued. “So anyway, like I said, I’m pretty sure I’m bi, I think I’ve kinda known that since I was pretty young but just sort of held it back y’know?” Phil nodded for him to keep going. “but I mean, I’d never kissed a guy. I’ve had crushes on guys and all that stuff, but I’ve never done anything so..”

Phil thought he knew where this was going. “So.. what happened tonight?” He prompted.

“So, tonight. I was with Josh, we were outside on the patio swing, I was quite drunk and I figured, hey I’ve never kissed a boy before.” He laughed a little. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Literally. I don’t even like Josh, he’s a dickhead anyway.”

“So what did you think?” Phil asked, cocking his head to the side.  
“Of what?”

“Of your experiment. Do you like kissing boys?” Phil smiled softly.

“Oh god. I didn’t even get that far.” Dan closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, shaking his head a little. “As I leant in he pushed me away, spat on me, called me a faggot. That's when he punched me in the face. I kinda just ran up here. I mean, I didn’t think that sort of thing happened anymore, it’s 2015 for fucks sake.”

“Most people are cool with it. I mean, maybe you shouldn’t have just sprung it on him like that, you probably just freaked him out. But he does sound like a very special breed of idiot.”

Dan laughed. “I don’t know why I ever hung around with that group in the first place. They were all assholes. Maybe I should move schools for sixth form or something. I bet he’s told everyone.”

“If he has it makes him come off bad, not you. Honestly Dan, most people in our school don’t care, there’s probably only a handful of people that are going to have a problem with it, just ignore them. You’ll make new friends in Sixth Form, better friends.”

“I guess.” Dan mumbled, picking at a loose thread on his sleeve.

They sat in silence for a few moments.

Dan had obviously had a terrible experience of trying to kiss a boy, he may never try it again. He’d probably just repress that side of him for his whole life, and that definitely was not healthy.

“I was thinking.” Phil began. “You still don’t know whether you like kissing boys. Did you wanna try again? Just for your experiment.”

Dan’s eyebrows shot up and his eyes went wide. “Uhh.” He smiled slightly and looked down, a small blush creeping up his cheeks. Phil made a mental note that Dan looked adorable when he was flustered. “With you, you mean?”

Phil laughed a little and nodded.

“I guess, I mean. I’ve only just met you but it’s just a kiss?”

“You’ve kissed girls before right?” Phil asked, sitting up and turning towards Dan.  
“Yeah, course. I mean. I haven’t had a girlfriend since Year 4, and I guess that doesn’t really count we never kissed or anything but I’ve made out with girls at parties. Once or twice.” Dan looked a little embarrassed at his lack of experience.

“You’re gonna have to sit up or this is gonna be the weirdest angle ever.” Phil laughed.

“Oh right, yeah of course.” Dan sat up awkwardly, rearranging his limbs so he was sitting with his legs curled up under himself, Phil was kneeling next to him.

“You’re sure about this?” Phil asked, noting the younger boys hesitation.

“Definitely.”  
“You aren’t gonna punch me in the face?”

Dan laughed and pushed Phil’s shoulder “You’re such an asshole, just kiss me.”

Phil placed a hand to Dan’s waist, pulling him slightly towards himself.

“Is this okay?” He asked

“Yeah.” Dan breathed.

Phil leant in close, pausing to brush a strand of Dan’s fringe out of his eyes. Dan closed the gap between them, ghosting his lips over Phil’s in the lightest way possible, pressing one chaste kiss to them before becoming a braver and moving his lips against Phil’s, his hand moving to cup the back of Phil’s neck. Phil responded into the kiss and pulled Dan even closer, hands dipping under Dan’s shirt to make contact with his skin and tracing small circles there with his thumbs. Dan’s lips were soft and smooth, he tasted of fruity alcoholic drinks and smelled like warm vanilla. Phil tried to avoid the area on the side of Dan’s mouth where his lip had busted, though it didn’t seem to cause him any pain. Phil was suddenly hyper-aware of the fact that he was wearing only his pants. He gave Dan one last quick peck on the lips and pulled away, smiling.

“So what do you think?” Phil asked with a smirk

“W-what? What about?” Dan looked a little dazed. Phil hoped that it was in a good way.

“The kissing you idiot, kissing boys?”

“Oh yeah that, yeah that’s good, definitely into that” Dan nodded, looking away and biting his lip.

He looked Phil in the eyes, cast his gaze down to his lips and then looked him back in the eyes before pressing his hand to his chest, gently pushing him backwards to lean against the edge of the bathtub. Dan moved to straddle him, his knees on either side of Phil’s hips. Dan kissed Phil again, with slightly more force this time, his hand gliding down and around Phil’s torso to rest on his hip, dipping under the band of his underwear ever so slightly, his other hand moving up to play with Phil’s hair, twisting strands around his finger and pressing his thumb to the nape of his neck. He could definitely feel that Phil was hard underneath him, and he couldn’t deny that he was halfway there as well.

They were both so engrossed in the kiss that they didn’t notice that the music downstairs had been switched off, they didn’t hear Ben shoulder-barge his parent’s bedroom door open and they definitely didn’t hear the footsteps as Ben walked towards the bathroom. But they did notice when he unlocked the bathroom door with a key and walked in on them making out in his parents bathtub. Dan pushed himself off of Phil with lightning speed, his hair dishevelled and his face bright red, he wouldn’t look at Ben at all, instead becoming intensely interested in the wall tiles. Phil on the other hand just gave him a sheepish grin. Ben sighed and rolled his eyes. He looked very drunk and extremely tired.

“Guys I’m so fucking tired right now and i really can’t be bothered to deal with whatever the fuck is happening here can you just get out of my parents fucking bathtub and go home? Please?”

He turned and left, presumably to clean up the absolute carnage that the partygoers had left in his house. Muttering under his breath about how it wasn’t worth it.  
Phil very quickly retrieved his still sopping wet clothes from the sink and dressed.

“Eugh I’m so sticky” Phil made a face as he pulled his shirt over his head. Dan snorted.

“What?” Phil asked, not understanding the innuendo he’d just made.

“That’s what she said” 

Phil shook his head but grinned anyway.

“Shut up”

“Make me”

“Eugh you’re such a cliche. You still have nowhere to stay right? Do you wanna sleep round mine? I have spare pajamas and stuff”

Dan nodded.

“Yeah actually, yeah that would be great. 

 

He grabbed Dan’s hand as he pulled him up out of the bathtub and then didn’t let go, interlacing their fingers and rubbing the back of Dan’s thumb with his comfortingly.

They made their way back to Phil’s house slowly, it wasn’t far but they were both extremely tired. Phil noticed that Dan was starting to lag behind so he offered him a piggy back which Dan gladly accepted. By the time they got in Dan was already half asleep. Phil led him upstairs to his room and handed him a pair of pajamas, leaving Dan to get changed as he brushed his teeth in the bathroom.

When Phil returned to his room Dan was already tucked up into his bed sleeping. Phil smiled to himself and crept under the covers, trying not to disturb Dan too much. He tried to keep a distance so that Dan wouldn’t feel too crowded, but as soon as he settled down he felt Dan cuddle close, his warmth heating the whole bed.

“Sorry do you mind? I just, I can’t get to sleep without cuddling something” Dan whispered, looking slightly embarrassed.

“No-no it’s fine, it’s nice. It’s more than nice.”

Dan grinned. 

“Thanks a lot Phil. For everything tonight y’know. I’m glad you found me.”

Phil giggled and kissed Dan on the nose, slinging an arm around his waist and pulling him close.

“I’m glad I did too.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic i've ever actually completed so I hope it's alright! Please comment/leave kudos cause I really, really appreciate them:)


End file.
